"You only get to appreciate what you do when you're not doing it," says bassist Rob Canning, slurping on a tea. "and now we're back, we're buzzing to go."
PART ONE: WELCOME TO 2008
ARTROCKER: How has the music scene changed since 2006's LP 'Give Me A Wall'?
TOM: Indie music has strayed more into the mainstream. There's no longer any differentiation between, say The Kooks, and pop music now. In a way it's a good thing - because that's what it is, it's pop music. It also means that loads of people suddenly want to sound indie, because they can get famous. There's suddenly a lot of pop ambition.
ARTROCKER: What about the album leaking onto the net - is that an inevitability now?
TOM: Yeah, but I think at least it show's there's an interest in the record, that it's been put out there. It can be a good way of people getting into it early and the fans seeing what it's about, so they're into it by the time we're touring. I don't think it'll do us too much harm.
And we will, probably, always experiment.
PART TWO: MAKING LIFE PROCESS
ARTROCKER: The new single has an element of guitar atmospherics. Is this the beginning a a new experimental phase?
WHISKAS: The single sounds quite different from the album, so it can't be judged from that. But in terms of a new experimental phase... well, we've always experimented! And we will, probably, always experiment. But there is a lot of different stuff on the album.
ARTROCKER: What is it about 'Spanish Triangles' that you think makes it representative of the LP?
WHISKAS: It's long! (laughs) And it's got lots of delay on it. It has an epic bit too... and that's where the album goes.
PART THREE: BUNKING UP
ARTROCKER: There's a Bloc Party remix of the new single, and also on Whisks'a label (Dance To The Radio) you've released compilations featuring the likes of Pigeon Detectives. Do you hang out with other bands?
WHISKAS: I do, all the time! I've probably spent about 80% of my time with people in bands over the last week!
KATIE: We all mix in together. I used to live in a house with other bands, and so did Whiskas. Everybody all together - then we'd all meet up for nights out.
TOM: I think bands that don't mix with other bands are either renowned to be a bit weird or dickheads. So... I would hope to think that I'm neither!
PART FOUR: HOW TO BE IN ¡FORWARD RUSSIA!
ARTROCKER: If I wanted to make a ¡Forward Russia! album, where would I start?
KATIE: Just call us! There's usually one person that comes along with an idea first, you know, because four of us can't have the same idea! Then we play around with it, or someone will add something. It's experimental, but we won't have thirty minute long jams or anything.
ARTROCKER: Your lyrics seem quite personal, but there's also this dramatic, elemental part to them. Is that a conscious approach?
TOM: I've always liked the idea that just because something is mundane it doesn't mean you have to display it in a mundane fashion. You don't have to write about normal things in a normal way - a song isn't a newspaper article. You are allowed to embellish things, that's what makes it... not poetry, but more than reading out the phone book. I've always wanted to describe the non-fantastic in a fantastic way.
PIC: ALFONZO THE MAGNIFICENT
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